Rate guides. are they fair
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AGREEMENTS between hauliers and customers and rate guides are among 74 documents submitted to the Office of Fair Trading by the Road Haulage Association.
This follows fair trading legislation which came into effect in March. Other documents submitted include the RHA standard conditions of carriage.
It is also possible that agreements between owner-drivers and between operators and customers will also be put before fair trading director Mr John IVIethven as a possible example of unfair trading.
The legislation was designed to combat restrictive agreements between hauliers which acted against the interests of the customer, but the RHA has now also fallen casualty to the rules.
A spokesman for the RHA said that all its agreements had been submitted to the OFT to save any repercussions if the Association had not submitted one that was restrictive.
He also agreed that it was possible that agreements would fall foul of the fair trading rules.
The Office of Fair Trading has published a booklet, Restrictive Trading Agreements and Recommendations Relating to Services—A Guide to Registration 1976, which lays out the classes of agreements which are liable to be classed as restrictive and therefore illegal. The booklet is available from the Office of Fair Trading (Service Order Inquiries), Chancery House, 53 Chancery Lane, London WC2. owner-drivers'